Kerr County inmates staff new garden

By Zeke MacCormackzeke@express-news.net

Updated 10:26 pm, Saturday, May 14, 2011

Photo: Zeke MacCormack, Zeke MacCormack/Express-News

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Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer oversees inmates planting seeds for okra and other vegetables Wednesday in a new garden on the grounds of county jail in Kerrville. Zeke MacCormack / zeke@express-news.net

Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer oversees inmates planting seeds for okra and other vegetables Wednesday in a new garden on the grounds of county jail in Kerrville. Zeke MacCormack / zeke@express-news.net

Photo: Zeke MacCormack, Zeke MacCormack/Express-News

Kerr County inmates staff new garden

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KERRVILLE — Inmate Michael Yocum couldn't wait to get busy in the new garden on Kerr County Jail grounds.

“All we see all day, every day is three walls, a TV and a window that don't even look outside,” said Yocum, 21, from Ingram, who's been incarcerated since April on a charge of violating probation.

Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer created the 1-acre garden to generate food and to reward well-behaved inmates.

“I think it can be a benefit to the community,” he said Wednesday while overseeing the first planting at the garden, which is ringed by a 10-foot fence topped by razor wire.

Hierholzer also hopes detainees on garden duty will develop green thumbs and useful knowledge in future tutorials by Fay Drozd, a master gardener.

“I think it will be fun, and it's certainly a worthwhile project,” Drozd said. “It gives the inmates something to do, gets them outside, and they may be able to find a job when they get out.”

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About $8,000 was spent on the project, modeled after jail gardens in Smith and Ellis counties, Hierholzer said, noting the funds come from proceeds from at the jail commissary, which have to be spent on the inmates.

Smith County Sheriff J.B. Smith said the 20 tons of food raised at his four-acre garden in Tyler last year was all donated to a local food bank.

“It's fantastic. We're feeding hungry people all over East Texas,” he said, adding, “I'm going for 25 tons this year.”

The agricultural extension agent in Smith County is overseeing the inmates' work on the tomato, pea, okra and potato plants, many of which were donated by residents.

The Kerrville garden was tilled by county workers. Water pipes along each end supply irrigation water. A shed with a shaded porch sits nearby beside a portable toilet.

“It's a little late in the year to plant, but we need to get it going,” said Hierholzer, who's been mulling an inmate garden for nearly a decade. “We're going to be planting vegetables mostly, but we may end up planting flowers to put in beds at county buildings.”

Beside putting fresh vegetables on the jail menu, he expects the harvest will be big enough to donate to local food banks.

Inmate Kyle Coons, 24, predicted garden duty will be popular among the minimum-security inmates eligible to participate.

“It's nice to get some fresh air and it breaks up the monotony,” Coons said as he picked up rocks. “We only get an hour for recreation every three or four days. You know it doesn't smell good in those cells.”

Inmates also get an extra day of credit toward their sentences for each shift served on the garden unit.

“Every little day helps,” Yocum said as he enthusiastically planted okra seeds in a slight drizzle. “I've been up since 4:30 a.m. waiting for this,” he said.